Silver Straind
by War Slayer
Summary: All hell brakes out changing everything Ed and alphonse have learned, as there past is changed and now they have to go to highschool.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Okay I wanted to put this part up before I wrote this so you guys weren't all confused. First off I am only taking parts of the full metal alchemist anime. I know lust and sloth are dead and I know Hughes is dead, but I like their characters so I am bringing them back. Okay in this story Ed didn't go to the other side of the gate when he brought Al back and he hasn't met his father yet or know anything about his father's past. They never met siren. If you haven't seen all the episodes yet this might be a good story for you because I am going to explain through this story.

Al got put back in his real body after they found greed and he didn't go with scar. They have been in search of the philosopher stone to bring back their mother but gave up. Now all they want is to understand why Hohenheim left them and their mother.

The seven sins are in this, none of them have died. Rose is in this she hasn't been raped or killed. Bradley is in this but later he hasn't been killed yet ether.

If you have any questions about this fan fic please tell me and I will try to explain all that I can to you. So please don't kill me. Oh and I won't put my author notes before chapters any more they will be after the chapters along with other fun things. Please read them they help a lot. Now on with the Chapter.

**Chapter One**

Hell has no Fury

Two sets of footsteps rang through the hall. One-foot step was a distinct sound from the rest. A heavy boot hitting the tile as the two figures headed for the main office of the building. A white-gloved hand ran through long blonde hair tresses. The owner turned to the other boy next to him. He smiled at the taller boy.

They reached the office finally. He checked his pocket watch he was assigned. Seeing that he was a minute early. They both walked to the desk watching the secretary ignore them.

"Uhum."

The secretary looked up when both boys cleared their throat. She stared at the two. The tallest had short blonde hair, and blue eyes. While the shorter one was different. His long blonde hair was braided in the back laying on the back of his red trench jacket. She watched his golden eyes shift from her to his brother. She noticed his right hand had a white glove on it while his right leg was three or four inches shorter then his other leg.

"Schedule."

She was raised out of her reverie when the shorter one asked the question. She smiled then turned to the stack of papers. "Names."

"Edward and Alphonse Elric." The taller one spoke up.

She nodded searching through the stack of papers. She smiled when she found the papers she was looking for. She looked at the two and handed them their schedules. "There you go." She said handing the taller one his. When she turned to the shorter one she smiled. "Aren't you a little short to be a sophomore?"

The shorter one's eye began to twitch. "**Who you calling a midget to small and short to take on an ant caring a crum!"**

"Ed." The taller one said.

"First off." Ed said snatching Alphones's schedule "I'm Ed and he's Al. Second, I'm a Junior." With that Ed walked out of the office.

"Sorry about that." Al said taking his schedule from her.

"Touchy isn't he?"

"Yeah, he is Ms…. "

"Oh, no, I'm not the secretary I'm just the teacher's aid. I'm a senior. Name's Clara but my friends call me Siren." She stuck out her hand for him to shake.

"Al." He said shaking her hand.

"I know."

He smiled and walked out of the office and ran down the hall to catch up with his brother. "She's nice."

"Pff." Ed began to limp his way down the hall. "I can't believe they made us come back here."

"Well." Al smiled when he pulled out his schedule. "They did make that new law."

"That law was just made because that ass hole Cristicoff doesn't like me at all. Bastard"

"It is a new law, Brother. And they did say you could still be a state alchemist as long as you get your diploma in the next two years, and your junior year is almost over, Ed." Ed didn't say anything. He just limped his way to his assigned locker opening it, throwing his red jacket in it and shutting it. "Just let me see your schedule."

"Fine." Ed handed Al his schedule, as they stood by his locker watching some of the other students, walk by in a hurry to get to class.

"Let's see, welding, PE, college chemistry, college alchemy, college algebra, college art, college government, and college English. You pretty much have all college classes."

"Yeah." Al looked at Ed who had a scowl on his face as he scanned the faces of the student crowd going by in their scurry.

"Why are you mad? The school's not that bad?" Al said handing Ed his schedule back.

"No, it's not… it's just… why this school?" Ed said folding his schedule up and tucking it in his black shirt jacket.

"Well they did say they thought someone was controlling this school. That's why Armstrong, Mustang, and Hawkeye are coming here to." Al said matter of fact-ly.

"Yeah, and I bet, Envy, Gluttony, Lust and those other three bastards are behind it too. But that's not just it. It's the only school in a thousand miles, meaning the so called other Elric brothers are gonna be here along with that brat Rose-."

"And Winry." Ed's eyes shot to Al who was trying to hide his smile. He failed miserably and almost choked on his own laughter.

"And we have no where to stay either. So we have to spend most of our money on a hotel for a year and a half, dammit." Ed said scowling at the floor.

"Well we could stay with Winry and-."

"Al." Ed said pushing off his locker and heading down the hall to the welding shop class. He heard Al following him and shook his head.

"What? Ed, they are family. You said so yourself."

"Yeah, but we haven't seen them… I mean, each other in two years. What kind of family does that? Doesn't even write or call up for two years, then all of a sudden shows up on their door step and says, 'Hey how's it been. I know I… we haven't talked in two years with you but I've… we've been wondering if I… we could stay with you guys for a year and a half'. How would that sound to you Al? Appealing?"

"You do know that they wouldn't mind at all. As long, as she… they had a chance to get to see you… us no matter what. So come on Ed. You know you want to."

Ed stopped and looked at his brother. He looked around then back at his brother. He shook his head and turned back to the direction he had been going to. "I'll thank about it."

Al nodded and followed Ed.

"What class do you have next Al?" Ed said reaching the door to his class.

"Advance math. It's further down the hall." Al said with a smile. "Just think about it for real. Please Ed." Al said staring at his brother.

"Okay Al." Al smiled and turned to leave. "Al." Al turned to look at Ed. "I'll meet you at the office before lunch."

"Okay Ed." Al smiled and turned and left. Ed turned to the door swinging it open. "I'll see you later."

Ed looked around at the room not even looking at the students in front of him. "You looking for some one?"

Ed turned to the man standing at the front of the room. "I'm Edward Elric."

The teacher turned to the class with a smile. "Class we have a celebrity in our class today because of the new law established. Ladies and gentlemen I give you the Full Metal Alchemist Edward Elric."

Everyone's eyes turned to Ed. "Shit." He glared at the teacher who just smiled.

"Take a seat." He turned to the rest of the class with a smile. "You guys and girls may go to the shop." All the students got on their feet and went out in the shop. The teacher turned back to Ed with a smile. "The name's Mr. Nevy."

Ed nodded.

Mr. Nevy grabbed the book off a big stack of books. He walked over to Ed and threw the book in front of him. "You have to finish this safety booklet before you can go in the shop. Okay Ed."

Ed nodded and opened the booklet. He reached in his pocket only to remember leaving his pencils in his red trench jacket. He got up and walked to the fountain where there was a box of scrap paper. He looked around and watched the teacher walk into his office. He bent down crumbling a piece of paper that was covered in pencil shadings. He slammed his hands together, and in a flash of blue light there was a pencil in place of the piece of paper.

Ed smiled at himself and turned back to the desk he was sitting in. he sat down opening the booklet. He stuck his tongue out as he began writing the answers to the questions as Mr. Nevy came out of his office. He shook his head at how fast the Elric boy was going.

Right then the door swung open. Ed was to busy working on the booklet to even look up or to even notice at first to even bother.

"Ms. W-."

"Sir, I'm so sorry. I didn't know how late it was I had to help my grandma P-."

"It's okay just go out in the shop with the rest of the class."

"Thank you Mr. Nevy."

"It's okay just don't bother the new student."

"Okay."

Ed heard the shop door shut slowly as he turned to the last page of the booklet. He smiled when he finished. He looked up at the clock. 'Five minutes of class to go.' He looked at Mr. Nevy then back at the clock. He stood up and walked over to Mr. Nevy and handed him his booklet. Mr. Nevy grabbed the booklet going over it before smiling and looking at Ed.

"Done all ready?"

"Yep."

"How was it?"

Ed smiled when he put his right hand in his pocket to fiddle with his pocket watch "Easy."

"Good." Mr. Nevy headed to his office with Ed behind him. "I'll get this graded by tomorrow. Then you can go in the shop and show us what you can do for this school. Okay Mr. Elric. I mean is that okay Mr. Elric, because I can try and grade it now if-?"

"No that's fine."

"Good." Mr. Nevy's long brown hair covered his right eyes as he looked up at the clock. "You have three minutes left till the bell rings."

"Yep."

"Go ahead and go."

"Really?"

"Yeah but if you get caught or ratted on I didn't let you go okay Mr. Elric. Because I could be in deep crap if I do get caught."

"Got you Mr. Nevy."

o0o0()0o0o

Winry stared at the framed photograph and rubbed her thumb against it slowly as she shook her head. A 'family' picture taken a long time ago, it was one of the few that she kept in her room for display. Edward knelt down beside Winry, while her grandma and Alphonse that big suit of armor stood on the other sides of them. '_'Next time we come we'll have to take another and Al will be in his body.''_

Winry winced. 'Yeah, when will that be Ed?'

'_Does it bother you?'_

'Not really. I always wondered where he is though. If he's okay, if he's de-?' she stopped her self from going on.

'_Worry about him more like it.'_

Winry shook her head wrapping a thick towel tighter around herself and tucking in the ends before walking to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water before going to change for school.

The yelling of her grandmother's voice cut through the quiet house and Winry winced as she shook her head. From her grandmother's ear piercing scream.

"Winry!"

"What!" She said grabbing a slice of toast.

"Do you know what time it is!"

"Yeah…!" Winry looked around for a clock but couldn't find one. "…No I don't know what time it is Grandma! Why!"

"You should hurry up!"

Winry shook her head at he grandmother always worrying about her being late no matter what time it was. "I think I have enough time left Grandma!"

"No you don't!"

"I think I do Grandma!"

"Winry…!"

She sighed. "What time is it Grandma, so I can get ready if I am really, really, really that late for the most exciting day of school.

"You're fifteen minutes late Winry!"

She almost dropped her toast. "Grandma why didn't you wake me up earlier!"

"You… uh… didn't wake up when I tried!"

Winry counted to ten before closing her eyes and sighing. Grabbing her water off the table, she headed for her room. "You're the worse liar ever!"

"Really? I think I'm pretty good at it!"

Winry rolled her eyes as she changed. She came out in a black tank top and white skirt. She ran towards the door grabbing the car keys off the rack as she ran by. "Bye Grandma!"

"By Winry!"

All Pinako could hear in response was the squealing of the tires of the car in the back of the house. She shook her head as she began working.

The green trees seemed like a blur as the car sped down the road. Winry shifted her car into fifth gear pushing it to go faster. 'Twenty minutes late, shit.' She pushed harder on the acceleration leaving nothing but a dust cloud behind her.

She pulled into the parking lot with a screeching halt. 'Man would he be laughing at me right now.' She thought of her new friend she met during the last school year. He had met the Elric brothers when him and his younger brother were impersonating them. When the Elric brothers left the town that they were living in, the town went ballistic on them for their red water experiments, so they had to leave changing their names as they did so, Chris was the elder one's name now and Paul was the younger one's. Even though Chris was a year younger then her he was in most of her classes last year and they became good friends.

She shook her head as she headed towards the school. She walked in to the front doors to the school. Following the late crowd of students. She headed to her locker and spun the combination until she heard a click, then swiftly threw her locker door open. She sighed as she stood there staring at the other books in her locker wondering what Edward was doing. She pulled out a picture of her, Ed, and Al smiling at the camera. She smiled at the picture before she hugged it.

"You know it's not cool to be a fan girl of the government's lap dogs, you know that right Winry?"

Winry smiled before turning to her locker and putting the picture away then smiling and turning to one of her other new friends. "Rose you just met Ed on a touchy subject that's all."

"Like what?"

Winry shut her locker and started walking towards her class. "Reincarnation, bringing the dead back to life," Winry took in a deep breath. "'That sort of stuff. You know that's really touchy for Ed"

"How is Reincarnation, bringing the dead back to life, and that sort of stuff a really touchy subject for the heartless Edward Elric? And how would I know?" Rose said throwing her brown hair over her shoulder as it became a nuisance to her very irritation of living at that moment.

Winry stopped, causing Rose to stop too. She looked at Rose shocked that she didn't know which was making Rose to look even more utterly confused then she all ready was. "They didn't tell you did they?"

"Tell me what?"

Winry just shook her head and continued walking.

"Winry, told me what?"

Winry stopped and looked at Rose. She took a deep breath before grabbing her friend's hand and dragging her out of the hall and by an emergency exit door.

"When Edward and Alphonse were about twelve years old their mom died." Rose just stood there waiting for the point. "Edward didn't take it to well. He locked him and Alphonse in a room of their father's books learning about reincarnation through alchemy. Edward was so obsessed with bringing his mother back that he memorized the things and chemicals needed in a human body to be created." Rose nodded as her memory of Edward trying to convince her that father Cornelio of her town was a fake. "Edward and Alphonse got all the ingredients together and tried to bring their mother back. But something went terribly wrong for the both of them.

"Edward lost his arm and leg and Alphonse lost his whole body. That armor Alphonse wears all the time, he isn't wearing it, that is his body." Rose nodded knowing that All ready when Alphonse got his helmet shot off. "Edward blamed himself for his own selfishness for his mother. He joined the army to find away to fix his mistake with his brother, but ended up instead in search of Philosopher Stone instead."

"Father Cornelio's ring was a fake version of that wretched stone wasn't it Winry? That's why Edward was so disappointed?"

"Yeah."

"I understand now."

"Yeah." Winry looked around seeing the clock and that she was thirty minutes late for class now. "Sorry Rose but I got to go. We'll talk about this later." With that Winry ran off waving at Rose as she reached her classroom door out of breath.

Right then she burst through the door. Winry ran inside, kneeling over to catch what little breath she could manage to inhale at that moment.

"Ms. W-."

"Sir, I'm so sorry. I didn't know how late it was I had to help my grandma P-." Winry tried to hurriedly explain so she wouldn't get into any kind of trouble.

"It's okay just go out in the shop with the rest of the class."

"Thank you Mr. Nevy." Winry said heading for the door that led to the shop still trying to catch all of her breath, which made Mr. Nevy speak.

"It's okay just don't bother the new student."

"Okay."

With that Winry opened the door to her shop room taking a glance at the new student. She shut the door behind her leaning against the door letting out a breath of relief. "That was a close one." She said to herself letting herself slid down the door to the floor.

'Wait a minute was that Ed?'

She hurried to her feet and looked into the door's window not seeing anything except for the door at the other end of the room. She turned and headed to her locker grabbing her working clothes and slipping them on as quickly as she could.

'_Now you're loosing it Winry.'_

'I'd say.'

"Winry what took you!" her head shot to look at the back of the room where the rest of the class were working on their projects.

"Laziness!"

"Good Excuse."

o0o0()0o0o

His golden orbs kept its gaze on the outside world. His thoughts kept returning to the stupid law. Why now? Why did it have to be here?

"Mr. Elric, can you show us some of the designs of some of the transmutation circles you have come to use?" the teacher said glaring at Ed.

"I don't use transmutation circles." Ed said keeping his view to the outside of the window not even bothering to look at the worthless teacher.

"That's impossible especially coming from a kid like you." The teacher said turning back to the black board. "Any ways…"

Ed stood up making his desk screech against the floor.

"Yes, Mr. Elric?"

"Give me something to make and I'll make it."

"Fine."

"That was so cool how you showed that teacher what was what!" a student yelled as they came out of class. "That sucks though that you have to wait a week for a college alchemy teacher to come and teach you though."

"Yeah."

"Ed!" Ed smiled as he saw his younger brother running down the hall to catch up with him.

"What's up Al?"

"You remember those two brothers that were always impersonating us?" Al asked as they began to walk down that hall together.

"You mean Russ-."

"Chris!"

"Chris? That wasn't his name."

"I know but when we left the town that they were living in went ballistic on them for their red water experiments, so they had to leave changing their names as they did so, Chris is the eldest's name now and Paul is the youngest's."

"Ouch"

"I know."

"Is eldest's and youngest's even words?"

"Shut up."

"Whatever."

"Yeah well anyways. Chris invited us to go to lunch with him and his friends." Al said starring at Ed waiting for him to say no."

"Great."

"Yeah… he's waiting for us in the parking lot."

"Well let's go."

"Where's Chris?" Rose asked sitting at the table they always sat at in that café when they came to eat lunch during school.

"You mean the kid with the hardest courses in school?" Winry said sarcastically. "Probably staying to do extra work for a teacher for fun." Winry said looking around.

"Actually I heard that a new kid tied with him and the new kid's older brother is beating him by higher courses by two levels."

"Damn."

"I know."

At that moment Chris, Al, and Ed walked into the café. Chris spotted his friends instantly and headed over to their table. "Hey guys, I'm introducing you to these girls but the blonde's mine." Chris said looking at Ed and Al with a glare.

"Okay."

"Fine."

"Over there." They followed Chris to the table.

"Nice place." Ed spoke.

"Yeah." Al responded.

"Guys." They both looked at the table Chris was by. "This is-."

"Ed."

"Winry."

Chris watched as they hugged each other. He leaned over to Alphonse who was smiling at Rose who seemed to be blushing at him. "Hey Al?"

"Yeah."

"You think Ed remembers that I called her."

"Sorry man. Ed called her when we were eight."

Chris sat in his chair and glared at the two who were now chatting. 'We'll see about that.'

"Al!" Winry got out of Ed's lap and ran over to Al who picked her up in a big hug. "Your back to normal!" she yelled excitedly.

"Thanks to Ed." Winry turned to Ed and smiled. Ed just blushed. "I have a favor to ask you?"

"Anything."

"Al." Ed stood up quickly flat on both feet. Making his left knee bend.

"Could you fix Ed's auto mail, he's three or four inches short on his right leg."

Winry knelt down beside Ed's legs examining them carefully. "More like seven or eight. I need to fix this in a hurry if we don't Ed could have some back problems."

"Does that mean we get to skip the rest of school?" Ed asked excitedly.

"We're going to have to."

"Yeah!" Al screamed.

"Not you Al." Winry stated firmly.

"What?"

"Sorry pal."

"I'll come to." Chris said glaring at Ed waiting for him to say anything against him coming too. But he didn't and Chris was shocked, because he didn't expect it when his angel Winry did.

"Sorry no one in the house while we're operating."

"Crap I forgot about the operation." Ed said looking uncomfortable.

"Don't worry about it."

o0o0()0o0o

"Urgh!" Ed held in the pain as Winry and Pinako began to attach the auto mail to his nervous system. He didn't move as they shoved the new arm and new leg into his sockets. Winry smiled at him when she was done with the arm. He was so tired that he almost passed out. They carried (dragged) him to the couch and laid him down and he was out.

Ed opened his eyes slowly to see Winry slowly moving the hair out of his face. He smiled at the beauty infront of him. 'Beauty?' he sat up shaking his head to fully wake up.

"Do you have a place to stay the year and a half that you're going to be here?"

Ed turned to see Pinako cleaning her hands. "No."

"Good then you'll stay with us."

Ed tried to argue but Pinako left the room. He shook his head and stood up liking the feeling of not being lopsided. Winry stood up too, then looked at him in shock. He caught her shocked look and looked down at her. "What?" 'Wait down?'

"Your taller then me half pint."

"**WHO YOU CALLING HALF PINT WHEN I'M TALLER THEN YOU NOW!**"

"**I'M A GIRL YOU SHOULD BE WAY TALLER THEN ME!**"

"Glad to see your well." They both looked to see Al standing at the door.

"You ready buddy?" Ed said walking to the door.

"Yeah the stuffs out back." The two boys walked out side with Winry on their tails.

"What are you two doing?" she said stopping at the door while the two boys walked to a box that was in the middle of the lawn.

"What we always do when Ed gets repaired." Al said like it was obvious.

"Won't you get hurt?"

"No, Al kept the arming and legging of his armor that he used to wear, so were pretty much equal."

She watched as Al attached the arming and legging of the armor to his body. "Crazy bastards." She said sitting on the steps to watch.

"As always." Ed stated. He looked at Al who was punching his fist into his palm to check for mobility and agility in his movements. "You ready pal?"

"Yeah bring it."

With that the two brothers charged at each other with smiles on their faces.

_**A/N:**_

Okay this is my first fan fic of Full metal and my first high school fic of full metal. So tell me what you think of it please. I am begging you. To please help me by sending reviews. That purple button that say submit review at the bottom of the screen is my only means of survival.

_**Reviews:**_

_**Bob's Castle: (CC)**_

_Final Wish and Warslayer_

FFNet 

_**Final Thought From Ed:**_

_I'm back._

_Blanket Disclaimer for this fanfic (Will apply to this and all other chapters in **A thin Silver Strand**): I do not claim any rights to The Full Metal Alchemist or the characters associated with the anime, video game, mange. etc. Those rights belong to whoever created it, I don't know who that is right now but I will find out. I do offer my gratitude to whomever for creating characters that I can torment and make cry like babies._

War Slayer Dev 


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

_**Like an Automail's Scorn.**_

He was in bed; the light of the morning, streamed through the window curtains picking on him. "Another dream." He whispered.

'Fading fast. Darkness. The inevitable darkness. The voice. Comforting in its tone. Sin. Hope. The emptiness and silence. The dream will be gone soon, and so will he. His soul retreating to it's final resting place. Hohenheim'

'_A key to the door that would unlock the dream within your mind._' Had he finally been able to-. No, never. A thud to his head. A rolled up sock had hit his head. He ignored it. 'Fate.' He thought. 'Should I care any more? I don't.'

"**GET UP!**"

"**I AM!**" Ed sat up rubbing his head as Winry stomped into his room. She grabbed his arm and began to drag him out of the room. "What are you doing?"

"Someone's here to see you." She said not to happily at that.

"Who?"

"You'll see."

"But I don't even have my shirt on." Ed said trying to grab his shirt as they went past his dresser.

"So."

"Winry."

She began pulling him down stairs not even listening to his complaining until she heard Al and the visitor's voice as they chatted casually to one another while eating breakfast. Oh was Winry upset at the visitor for coming during her alone time with Ed. Winry almost stopped when her mind spoke out of turn, but she continued trudging along down the stairs till they reached the kitchen. She threw Ed inside with a scowl on her face.

"Winry!" Ed froze when he saw Rose starring at his bare chest. He looked around spotting his red jacket to hide his scars.

'Why hide something so beautiful?' Winry thought.

'_What?' _Her mind asked confused.

'My-My work that is.' She responded to her mind with a blush that crept across her face and didn't seem like it wanted to leave.

'_Yeah, right.'_

"So Rose what do you want?" Ed said slipping on his jacket as he pulled out a chair next to Winry after she sat down. He grabbed a plate and pilled it with food then began stuffing his face freely. With out a care in the world, or manners. He slowed down when there was hardly any food left. When he was done he casually leaned his back against his chair.

"Well, Ed." Rose said watching him stuff his face and waited for him to stop. When he did she finally spoke. "I came by to see if you needed- well because I wanted to give you a ride to school." Rose smiled sweetly causing Ed to almost fall over in the chair he was now leaning back in and she also received a glare from Winry. "I feel bad for how I treated you through the years and I wanted to make it up to you Ed."

Ed twiddled his fingers before looking at Al for help. Al just shook his head and turned back to his food. 'I'll remember that one Al.' Ed turned back to Rose who was looking at him with a smile waiting for him to answer the way she wanted him to answer. "I… uh… I-."

"All ready have a ride from me." Ed looked at Winry with gratitude. She nodded to him and turned back to Rose. "Sorry I asked him last night if he wanted a ride. But Al doesn't have a ride so your trip won't be in total vain." Without another word Winry stood up with a tight smile aimed at Rose. She walked over to the rack on the wall grabbing her keys before swinging the door open and turning her gaze back to the kitchen to glare. "You coming Ed!"

"Ye-yeah just a sec." Ed stood up grabbing some biscuits before running upstairs to his new room. He grabbed a white wife beater (a-shirt) then threw off his PJ pants threw on his wife beater, black pants, black jacket, and boots, then ran back down stairs. He grabbed his red trench jacket and white glove and headed out the door after Winry. He looked back at the house watching Al being dragged off by an angry looking Rose. Ed shook his head and he turned back to Winry's car. 'What the hell is going on here?' he opened the door to Winry's car and stepped in closing the door behind him. "Thanks."

"No sweat." She said tightening her grip on her steering wheel as she took off. 'What the heck was Rose thinking she was doing?' Winry tightened her grip even more on the steering wheel that her knuckles began to turn white from the pressure that was being applied.

'_Get a Grip Winry!'_

'What do you think I'm doing?'

'_Not on the steering wheel, on your emotions. Look Ed might catch your anger and would wonder what's wrong. Then what would you tell him, huh?'_

'He wouldn't care.' Winry turned her gaze to Edward. Who was leaning against the passenger door, she was watching him staring out the window.

'_You know he would.'_

'Would he?'

'_Yes, don't even say he wouldn't.'_

'He would wouldn't he.'

"Ed." Her gaze shifted back to the road ahead of her before she dared speak to him.

"Hmm?" was his response as he sat up a little straighter.

"Granny and I have been doing some experiments with automail and… red liquid."

"What!" his golden eyes shot to her. He watched her move a strand of blonde hair that escaped her ponytail.

She had his full attention. "Russell and Fletcher- I mean Chris and Paul gave us some. Well we created a automail that grow along with its user. And we figured out how to put flesh on it, and we were wondering if-?"

"And Pinako has been helping you with this?"

"Yes." Her eyes turned angry and glared at Ed. "Why you don't think I could have done-!"

"No, I know you could have done this on your own! It's just… red liquid is dangerous. If anything would have happened to you I… I… never mind."

"Ed? What-?"

"When is the earliest you can do this?"

Winry took in a shaky breath as she pulled into the school's parking lot. She put the car in park before taking a deep breath then answering Ed's question. "Tonight if that's good for you."

"All right." Ed opened the door and stepped out slowly. Before closing the door he turned back to Winry. "Winry?"

"Huh?"

"Thanks." He watched her nod. "I'll see you later okay." With that he shut the door and headed back to class.

Winry sat there starring at her steering wheel as a tear ran down her right cheek. 'He does care.'

o0o0()0o0o

Ed sat in class waiting patiently for class to start. "Did you hear the new principle is here?" Ed turned in his seat starring at the two boys who were talking.

"Yeah, I heard we got two new teachers too but they don't come till tomorrow."

"Yeah but the hot one has only one student."

"Why is that?"

"She's the College Alchemy teacher."

"College alchemy huh? I'll just have to work my ass off in alchemy so I can get her senior year."

"Yeah right."

"Edward Elric." Ed turned to the front of the classroom. He spotted Mr. Nevy with a piece of paper in his hand. "Edward Elric?"

"Yeah?" Ed watched Mr. Nevy make a check on a slip of paper.

"Jack Gibson."

"Here."

Ed was confused but ignored it and sat patiently as Mr. Nevy called out the rest of the names.

"Winry Rockbell." Ed's eyebrows shot up when that name was called. He looked around trying to spot her. But all the seats were taken except for the ones next to him. And Winry wasn't in any of them or in the crowd of faces. "Winry Rockbell?" still no answer. Finally the door swung open and Winry walked in. "Ms. Rockbell, so nice of you to join us." Laughter from the whole class erupted except from Ed. Was he the only one who noticed the lone tear hanging on her chin.

"Sorry, I forgot my math book at home." Winry said looking at the ground.

"It's okay take a seat by Mr. Elric."

Winry's head shot up and her hand's quickly shot to her eyes to dry any remaining tears. She nodded to Mr. Nevy then headed towards one of the empty seats by Ed. She sat down resting her chin in her hands and let out a sigh.

"Why were you crying?"

Winry's gaze turned to Ed who wasn't even looking at her but at the front of the room. "I… I… wasn't crying."

She watched Ed's golden eyed shift to her. His left hand got closer to her. His index finger slid across her chin. His finger then pulled away holding a stray tear. "Then what's this." Ed spoke so softly as he put his hand on the table and waited for Winry to answer.

"I…" Winry tightened her eyes fighting back the tears that were coming.

"Hey Winry, is crippled messing with you beautiful?" Ed and Winry both turned to the two boys who were talking about the new teachers earlier. One had long brown hair that went in his eyes. While the other had short black hair with a smirk that made you think he was crazy.

"Yeah, if he is you can sit with us." The other spoke in turn.

"That's okay, he's not bothering me." Winry turned looking at the two boys then to Ed. "Thanks any ways. Jake, Kane."

"Winry come on, you don't want to sit by a crippled. Come on sit with us-." Jake was interrupted.

"Shut up before I make you a crippled." Ed breathed through his teeth. Clutching the desk so hard it began to splinter.

"We getting testy orphan?" Kane asked.

"Shut up you guys." Winry said watching Ed getting angrier by the minute.

"You his girlfriend Winry?" Jake asked.

"He's gonna kill you guys."

"There's nothing that bastard can do to us."

Ed was out of his seat in an instant, punching Kane with his left hand while he held him down with his automail.

Jake tried pulling him off but Ed threw his right arm back. Sending Jake flying into three other desks. Ed got up dragging Kane with him then lifting him in the air. "If you ever call me and orphan or a bastard again I will kill you." With that Ed threw him into Jake who was trying to get back up.

"Mr. Elric." Ed's gaze shifted to Mr. Nevy who looked… pleased? "The office is waiting for your arrival Mr. Elric."

Ed let out a breath and walked out the door.

o0o0()0o0o

"Full Metal, in trouble on my first day here. How cynical of you Ed." The principle said sitting on the side of his desk.

"Huh, I should of know you'd be principle. Always trying to get to the top aren't we now Roy." Ed said sitting in the empty chair.

"Well it is quite comfortable and I did get Hawkeye to wear a mini skirt for this job. It's tremendous."

"Shiterrific." Ed said rolling his eyes.

"So why are we here Ed?" Roy picked up the file that was on the desk. "Fighting? Wow isn't that a surprise and please tell me why this fight started?"

"Because they were bastards."

Roy took a deep breath. "Ed you can't keep fighting because someone calls you short all the time. It's childish."

"**WHO YOU CALLING SO SHORT-!"** Ed stopped when he stood up and stared at Roy. "Wait a minute." Ed stood up straighter and walked closer to Roy with a smile on hi face. "I'm almost as tall as you are."

"That's absurd." Roy was on his feet in an instant. "The day you're as tall as me-."

"Damn right, I am as tall as you." Roy sat down quickly mumbling something that Ed couldn't hear then cleared his throat to speak.

"Now why did you start this fight?"

Ed's smile turned into a scowl. "They called me an orphan and a bastard."

Roy nodded understanding then why Ed beat up the two idiots. "I have received word from Hohenheim." Ed's scowl turned to Roy. "He said he needed to explain some things to you."

"How?"

"He said your mother had a diary, it should help."

"It's gone it burned in the fire."

"He said your mother had buried it somewhere."

"Where?"

"The place where her and Hohenheim always sat."

Ed looked at Roy with a shake of his head and a look that said like-I-know-where-that-is. "Of course."

With that Ed walked out the door.

o0o0()0o0o

"So your saying your mom buried her diary somewhere in town?" Rose asked as Ed and Winry sat down with their food at the café.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Ed said grabbing his slice of pizza. He stuffed it in his mouth and the others followed suit.

"Brother, is that all you know?" Al said putting down his crust.

"Roy said that she buried it at a place that her and Hohenheim always sat at." Ed said grabbing another slice. "Vhat vever whaat Theans."

"Just ask my granny." Winry said looking at Ed.

"Pinako?"

"Yeah she knew your mom and dad well remember."

"Well if she does will you guys help us find it."

"Sure." Rose said with a big smile.

Ed turned to Winry who was eating like the question wasn't asked to her. "Winry."

"Hmm?"

"Will you."

"You want me? But I'm just a 'gear head'." Winry said quickly a habit she does when she's nervous.

"Please."

"Well I guess it would be interesting to know what your mom thought." Winry said with her index finger on her bottom lip.

"So you'll help."

"Of course."

"Great then were settled."

"You guys doing stuff with out me?" all their heads shot to Chris who had Fletcher with him.

"Hey Fletcher."

Fletcher looked at Al with confusion. "Hi. It's Paul"

"Oh yeah I'm not in my suit of armor so you probably don't recognize me."

"Al?"

"In the flesh."

"Speaking of flesh, can we go during eighth period, my English teacher has only me so we get done early." Ed asked looking at Winry.

"Well I have math." Winry said pushing her index fingers together.

"I'll help you with the math homework before we get started."

"Okay."

"What are you talking about brother?" Al asked looking from Winry to Ed.

"It's a surprise."

"Is Winry pregnant with your child?" Rose asked. Chris watched Winry blush and not even answer.

"Shut up Rose."

"Sorry just wondering."

Ed looked at his pocket watch and then shook his head. "I got to go. Roy wanted to ask me something."

"Whose Roy?" Chris asked.

"Our commanding officer and our new principle." Ed said getting up.

"You need a ride?" Rose asked.

"No I got one." Ed began walking to all the tables picking up all the silverware and some alcohol. He grabbed the big pile and headed out side with his curious friends behind him. He threw them on the side of the street with a smile on his face. He slammed his hands together then slammed them on the pile. There in a flash of blue light was a silver motorcycle. Ed smiled as he jumped on.

"That won't work." Chris said.

"How do you think me and Ed got everywhere." Al stated.

"Whatever."

Ed jumped on the bike. "See yah." And with that he was off.

"Told you." Al said and followed the rest inside.

o0o0()0o0o

"Okay so 5x3(3x3-8x2+10x+2) equals 15x3-40x2+56x4+10x3"

"But shouldn't the 40x whatever be positive?"

"No, a negative and a positive equals a negative and a positive and a positive equals a?"

"Positive?"

"Yeah. And a negative and a negative?"

"Negative?"

"No, positive… see there are to lines in a plus sign right?"

"Yeah."

"And there is one line in a negative." Ed drew a line on a sheet of paper. "If you add another line perpendicular instead of parallel then it makes a-."

"Plus sign making it positive."

"Right."

"Ed we're ready!" Ed dropped the pencil and looked at the door leading out of Winry's room.

"I'm done now too if you want to get started." Ed looked at Winry and nodded. They both walked down stairs and into the work area. Pinako was sitting on a stool waiting with Al in a chair next to her.

"Okay Al you can go." Pinako said.

Al nodded and got up. He stopped and looked at Ed. Ed nodded and Al walked out. "Okay Ed we don't know if this is gonna be any more painful then the other surgery but we'll see."

Ed nodded at Pinako and jumped on the bed. They took his arm and leg off quickly leaving no room for pain. Ed watched Winry take a cover off of his new arm. He watched the red liquid in a tube that made it look like his vein. "We put the flesh on afterwards." Winry said watching Ed closely.

Ed nodded again.

"Okay you ready Ed."

"Like I said the first time we did this, no pain is even close to the pain he went through."

Winry looked a Pinako who nodded at her. "This will take a little longer then before because not only do we have to hook it up to your nerves we have to hook them up to your tendons."

Ed nodded again.

"Okay here we go." Winry put the arm beside his arm socket while Pinako put his leg by his leg socket. "One two… Three!"

Ed's eyes widened in pain. It was nothing he ever felt before. He looked around clutching the sheets searching for his voice. Then he finally found it. "Ahhhhhh!" Winry's eyes went to his face seeing tears come down his cheeks. "Ah, ah, ahhhh!"

Al sat in the chair out side waiting for it to be over. He heard the scream and was on his feet. He stepped closer to the door putting up a shaky hand to the doorknob. He turned it slowly opening to see his brother. Never had Al seen Ed's eyes so dilated, or Ed screaming. It was too much and with that said he passed out.

Winry's head jerked to the door when she heard the body drop to the floor. She spotted Al's body at the door. She ignored it for the time being and returned to what was at hand. She finally got the arm in and turned to her granny. She was having trouble with the leg. Winry walked over to her and helped as quickly as she could. She looked up when the screaming stopped. Ed's eyes were closed. She looked at the heart monitor his heart was still beating.

She grabbed the flesh off the tabled and handed some to her granny.

'Well Ed this is for you.'

o0o0()0o0o

Ed woke up seeing the baby blue color all over his room. Baby blue? He sat up slowly looking around and spotted Winry at her desk. 'Why was he in Winry's room?' he put his feet on the ground and began to rub his forehead. He stood up slowly taking a shaky step towards Winry until he lost his balance.

Winry heard footsteps and turned to see Ed walking towards her. She watched as he lost his footing and almost fell. She caught him. She set him back down on her bed and sat next to him.

"Where am I?"

"My room. Al walked in on the surgery when he heard you screaming and passed out. We had to carry him up stairs to the closest room. That being yours then we took you to the second closest room mine." Winry said.

"What day is it?"

"Friday."

"Well I better-."

"Night."

"Huh?"

"You've slept for almost three days now." Winry wiped her cheek and Ed noticed for the first time that she had been crying. "Granny said if it were any other man you'd have been dead."

"I-I'm sorry."

Winry looked at him confused. "Why?"

"For worrying you."

She smiled and hugged him. Ed slowly put his arms around her. She finally pulled away wiping her eyes. "It's hard crying for you guys you know that."

"Well don't. We don't deserve your tears."

"Yeah well you gonna get them any ways." She got up and sat down at her desk and began writing again. Ed stood up and walked around her room until a little blue book caught his eye.

"You have a diary?"

Winry's head shot up and she was on her feet in a second. She ran over to him snatching the book away from him. "Mine."

"Are you sure?" Ed said reaching for the book.

Winry stepped back. "Mine."

"Okay, okay." Ed smiled as he laid back on her bed. "I'll leave you alone."

"Mine."

"I said okay."

"Mine."

"All right all ready."

"Ed."

"I won't mess with it." 'For now.' And with that Ed fell asleep.

_**A/N:**_

Okay this is going good so far. I think, I hope. Well I am Devin Warren and I approve this story, kind of, sort of, not really. Just kidding well tell me what you feel by pushing that purple button that says submit review at the bottom of the screen. And It's true it is my only means of survival.

_**Reviews:**_

_**Bob's Castle: (CC)**_

_Final Wish and Warslayer_

FFNet 

_**Final Thought From Winry:**_

_I told him it's mine and I mean that it's mine._

_Blanket Disclaimer for this fanfic (Will apply to this and all other chapters in **A thin Silver Strand**): I do not claim any rights to The Full Metal Alchemist or the characters associated with the anime, video game, mange. etc. Those rights belong to whoever created it, I don't know who that is right now but I will find out. I do offer my gratitude to whomever for creating characters that I can torment and make cry like babies._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

First Diary

"I think I'm in love with your hair."

"What?"

"Seriously it's not like mine. It's soft and long. I just like to play with it."

"Can we talk about something else."

"Fine do you think you'll be able to find the journal?"

Ed shrugged. "I don't know. It doesn't look good. Pinako said she would look into it."

His answer bothered her. He could tell by the way her back stiffened that she was worried about something.

"Will you read it, if you find it?"

He shrugged. "Don't much care to. No good can come of it."

"I was thinking . . . do you suppose she wrote it for you? That she knew that she might not be able to tell you things that you should know?"

"It could be, she did know she'd die." He stood up and headed for the door. Winry had an uncanny way of putting things into words that he'd already wondered, himself.

Winry stood and grabbed his arm gently, stopping him before he could leave. "No, not that . . . I'll bet she had no intention of dying and leaving you alone. A mother wouldn't do that." She sighed and let go of him.

"I don't want to talk about this," he remarked, struggling to keep his tone from escalating.

She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the bed without seeing the bed at all. She wasn't finished. He braced himself for the rest of her assessment. "Granny told me once that sometimes there are things that a mother wants to say that she just can't articulate to her child because she knows it's painful. Maybe . . . Maybe that's what's in the journal."

"Maybe," he agreed. He shook his head slowly and lifted his gaze to the ceiling.

With a deep breath, Ed turned and walked over to her bed.

'_Do I even want to know what's in that journal?_' He winced. Why was it that the memories of his mother's tears were the only ones he could bring to mind when he thought of her? '_Just . . . painful things . . ._ .'

'_They're just words! Words can't hurt me! Words can't break me or change me . . . words can't do a damn thing, and words can't change the past_.'

A sudden loneliness swept through him, and he shivered despite the mild night air. Winry looked up. He was sure that she couldn't see him yet she seemed to be looking right at him, too. She smiled shyly and ducked her head. Ed suddenly felt warm again, as though the sun was shining on him despite it being the middle of the night. How did she do that?

He cocked his head to the side and leaned forward, squinting as he watched her fish another book out of her bag. Her Diary. She leafed through the pages and chewed on the end of her pen as she stared thoughtfully at the pages. Then she hunched over and started to write.

Winry recapped her pen and dropped it on her diary with a sigh. Her neck hurt from bending over the book, but it was good therapy to keep a journal.

A shadow fell over the pages, and Winry lifted her chin to gaze at Ed, who had been way too quiet in his approach. Her expression turned suspicious at the knowing look he gave her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked slowly.

He didn't smile but she could tell he wanted to. That worried her even more. He knelt down and reached over, plucking her diary off her desk. Winry stared at the blue book. "I want to read this," Ed remarked but didn't open it.

"Give it back," she said, willing her voice to remain calm.

He relented and handed her back the diary. She clutched it against her chest as if she was trying to protect it. "We could trade," he remarked casually-a little _too_ casually.

"Trade what?"

She was positive now. She really didn't like that glint in Ed's eyes.

The glint brightened. He leaned forward for good measure. "Hair for journal."

Her eyes widened and she leaned back. Her mouth fell open in shock, and it took a few moments before she could make her voice work. "No! I can't believe you-No" He blinked at her. "Stop that! No!"

He blinked again. "Stop what?"

Winry snapped her mouth closed so hard her teeth rattled. He really didn't know what he had just done, but there was a very good chance he did now. His gaze suddenly grew brighter, and he blinked-again. She stifled a groan. "No."

He seemed to think that over. Finally he frowned and sat back. "All right, Winry. I didn't want to have to resort to this, but you're forcing me to."

For a moment, she thought he meant to take the diary by force. Her arms tightened. There were things in there that he didn't need to see; things about him, and about her feelings. He wasn't getting it without a fight. Her gaze narrowed. 'I'll mess with his automail if he even thanks about touching this with out my consent. He'll be walking limp for the next year he's here…'

"Do you want to read my mother's journal, if I find it?"

Winry frowned. "I thought you didn't know if you'd read it or not."

He shook his head slowly. "I don't know if I will."

"But you'd let me read it?"

He nodded and sighed. "I always thought it was weird, but I feel like . . . . I don't know how to explain it, but yeah I'll let you read it."

Winry digested his offer a moment. Hard enough to pass up the idea of being able to play with his hair, she thought with an inward giggle. 'Yeah . . . I'm addicted to his hair . . . ._'_ Then he had offered to let her read his mother's journal . . . that was huge. 'He really does trust me, doesn't he?'

Her gaze dropped to the diary she still held against her chest. Sure it was full of personal things, but his mother's journal was bound to be, too, and she trusted him. Just to clarify the deal, though, she sighed. "If I let you read my diary, then I get to mess with your hair and read your mother's journal when you find it?"

Ed looked up as he thought it over. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

Winry made a face. "I have a condition of my own."

He blinked at her again. She nearly growled in frustration. She really shouldn't have let that slip . . . . 'You've let a lot more than just that slip, if you're really going to let him read your diary, baka!' She wrinkled her nose. "You have to start at the beginning and read straight through. No skipping around."

He considered that then held out his hand.

Winry hesitantly held out the diary but didn't let go. Ed got the hint and lay down on his side, facing the computer as Winry sat behind him on the bed, then held out his hand for the book. With one last sigh, Winry handed it over before turning her attention to his hair.

'_Maybe_,' she allowed as his silence came to her ears, '_this wasn't such a bad trade, after all.' _

o0o0()0o0o

Al stood up from his bed hearing the muffling noise from next door. "What are they doing in there?" Al shook his head as he headed for the door to his room. Throwing it open he stepped out into the hall and walked down stairs.

"Where you going, Al?"

He turned to see Pinako sitting at the kitchen table washing a piece of Automail. He smiled at the old woman and stepped into the kitchen. "I was going to ask Ed if he wanted to go do something but he was busy. So I decided to go for a walk."

"Well be back soon. It's almost late."

Al nodded and headed for the door. He smiled when he got out and saw the light on in Winry's room. He shook his head and excited through the gate of the fence. He began to kick the dirt as he hedged on not really going anywhere in particularly. He heard noises of the teens still out screwing around. He finally smiled. It had been a while that he could really enjoy being human. Now he understood why Ed wasn't happy being full human. He still had the worries of the people around him. "Oh." Al stood up and began to rub the back of his head as he looked at her. "Well it was nice talking to you, Siren."

"You to Al." Ad with that she walked off the bleachers turning back to smile at him when she reached the bottom. "Do you want a ride home?"

Al smiled and ran down the bleachers like he never ran before and she giggled again. man did he like the sound of that. "Sure."

"Okay let's go then." She turned and walked away.

Al looked at the sky praying and thanking whatever was up there that he gave him this chance to be with this beautiful girl.

"You coming Al!" "Yeah!" he smiled and ran after Siren.

Al shook his head and stepped through a get that looked familiar. He looked up to see the school a head of him. He cocked an eyebrow but blew it off and walked over to the bleachers. He sat there starring at the stars. "You know I wouldn't change my life for anything."

"Well that's good."

Al jumped and turned to see Siren sitting down the bleachers looking at the stars as well. She turned to him when she felt his gaze on her. She smiled at him and stood and walked over to sit by him. "Hi."

"Hey, Alphonse isn't it?"

"You can call me Al."

"Okay Al."

He turned back to the sky not knowing what else to say to the beauty next to him. He shook his head with a smile still on his face.

"Well, I got to go."

"Hmm." Al said looking back at her.

She giggled at him then stood. "I have to go, my mom needs my help."

o0o0()0o0o

Ed sighed loudly as he tapped his new fingers on the ruffled blue bedspread.

"Shh!"

He wrinkled his nose and frowned. "Aren't you almost done?"

"Nope."

"Why?"

"Shh!"

He rolled off Winry's bed and stomped out of the room. With a sigh of relief, Winry continued checking her grades on the computer.

She clicked the mouse button and leaned back in the chair to stretch. She had exams in all her classes this week, and though Ed wasn't happy about it, he had offered to help her study for them. It had surprised her. Then again, he'd been acting a little different toward her since he'd started reading her diary. Not for the first time, Winry wondered if she had made a huge mistake in allowing him to read the book, but she'd given her word. She couldn't go back on it now.

What did surprise her is that he actually hadn't read much of it. He seemed to be reading only one entry at a time, and while she was glad because it put off the inevitable, he didn't say what he thought of her entries, either.

She grinned. She couldn't complain too much about him, though. As frustrating as he could be, she had to admit that she felt a lot closer to him since the last time she had been home.

Her gaze fell on her diary. Ed had read up through her first entry after him and Al had made her a doll through alchemy for her birthday. She grimaced. She had been so sad that they were both leaving again so soon 'Right after senior year. A year and a half is still not enough time'.

"Are you done checking your grades yet?"

Winry shifted her eyes to the side as Ed re-entered the room with a bottle of water. He flopped across the bed again. The bed groaned under the impact. Winry stabbed him with a dark look. "If you break that, Ed—"

"Yeah, yeah, you'll hit me with a wrench, I know. Hurry up and check your grades, will you?"

Winry turned in the chair and hung onto the back, resting her chin on her hands. "Why are you so anxious?"

"I'm not anxious."

She knew better. Lying on his side with his left knee bent, he tapped his right foot as his as he played with a stray string sticking out of her comforter. Winry couldn't help the smile that surfaced on her face. He caught her gaze and blinked. She felt her cheeks growing warm and whipped around to stare at her textbook. She just _knew_ he was grinning.

After twenty minutes, she turned off the computer with a sigh.

"Finally!" he remarked with a loud snort.

She stood up and pulled her list off the stack of notes. "Come on."

"Where?"

"I've got to get a few things for granny, and since you're not happy to stay here, then we might as well go to the store."

"Fine." He said not to happy.

"Is something wrong, Ed?" Pinako asked as she breezed into Winry's bedroom with a stack of clean laundry.

"Ask Winry," he grumbled.

Pinako shot Winry a questioning look. Winry shrugged and dragged Ed out of the room. She let go at the bottom of the stairs to struggle into her jacket. Ed rolled his eyes, holding the back of her collar as she glanced up at him.

"Thanks." He didn't respond. She sighed and opened the front door. "Come on, grumpy"

o0o0()0o0o

"What do you mean."

"Well she was Great."

"Al, you mean your falling for that secretary?"

"Oh, no she's a Senior assistant, a teacher's aid." Al said with a smile as they walked through the halls of school.

"Al you can't be serious."

"Why not?" Al looked at Ed who had a scowl on his face. "Brother?"

"I just heard that Siren likes to use people and manipulate people that's just all." Ed said stuffing his hands in his jacket and not looking at Al.

"That's just a rumor, brother."

"Hey it's the cripple." Ed and Al stopped as two boys walked by them laughing as they two stopped.

"Yeah, I heard he gets really mad when you call him a shorty."

"**WHO YOU CALLING A SHORTY SO SMALL THAT HE DOESN'T EVEN COMPARE TO A ANT IN SIZE!**" Ed said well yelled getting in the boy's face.

"You. What are you gonna do about it."

Ed was gonna pulled his fist back but a fist flew by the side of his head and hit the kid in the nose. The kid fell to the floor clutching his nose and yelling in pain. Ed turned to see that the fist belonged to Al. Al? He couldn't remember Al punching someone unless he really had to. He smiled at Al and watched as Al pulled him to the side and took a punch to the face.

Ed watched Al fall to the floor cupping his right eye. He turned to the other boy who had just hit his younger brother. Ed shot forward punching the kid and sending him smashing into a locker across the hall. The other kid was on his feet and ready to attack Ed again until he was lifted into the air.

"I think you should stop." The person said as he turned the kid to look at him in the face. "I would hate for you to attack someone who helped gave birth to my daughter." His voice was menacing.

"Hughes?"

"By the way." He dropped the kid and reached into his pocket. "Would you like to see pictures of her." He said bringing a pack of pictures of his daughter.

Ed shook his head as he helped Al to his feet. The other boy that was knocked into the locker tried to sneak away but ran strait into someone else.

"I think you need to apologize." The tall man said. "Or this 'beautiful body' will have to do some damage!" he said throwing off his shirt and flexing his muscles.

"Armstrong?" Ed really was confused.

Hughes turned to Ed and smiled. "Hey Ed." He looked at the kid. "You can go now." The two kids ran off.

"What are you two doing here?"

"Well Hawkeye, Mustang, and Havoc seemed to think that there was a lot more to this school then we are being told so we were called in."

"And to accommodate for us coming school is being canceled or let out early."

"That sounds good. When will that happen?"

Hughes looked at his watch. "Right about . . . . now." And at that moment an announcement turned on excusing the school.

"Well this should be interesting." Ed said to Al as they said their goodbyes to the two they just ran into.

"Why is that, brother?"

"That means I have all day to read."

Al looked at Ed confused but didn't say anything about it.

"Before we go you should go see the nurse about your eye."

"Yeah maybe your right."

o0o0()0o0o

"What happened to you!" Al's head lifted as he entered the nurses office.

"You're a nurse too."

Siren's cheeks pinkened a little. "For now, I help out a lot at school. It helps with my scholarships for college." She walked over to the bed and had him sit down. "Now tell me what happened.

"I got into a fight."

"Really?" she said putting a wet cloth to his eye. "I always heard that Edward was the one that always got into fights."

"Where'd you hear that from."

"Winry."

"You know Winry?"

"Yeah we met last year."

"That's cool." He watched as she grabbed a cotton ball and soaked it. "So are you guys pretty good friends?"

"We used to be…." She said sitting back down next to him. "Well I guess you can say we still are. Rose, Chris, Winry, and me used to hang out a lot. But, when senior year came along I picked up a lot of extra work to do and you and Ed came along so I didn't get that much time to spend with her."

"I'm sorry." Al spoke. "Owe."

"Don't be." She said pushing the cotton ball against his swollen eye. "He didn't get you very good. Your eye should be perfectly fine in the morning." He nodded and stood up. "And don't worry about me and Winry we still have lunch on the weekends every once and a while."

"Okay."

"Here." She grabbed his hand and a pen and began to write. "This is my number. Call me if you ever have free time or nothing to do."

"Okay." Al said with a smile. End left.

o0o0()0o0o

Ed forced his eyes open as he tried to read Winry's diary. He'd re-read the same passage about a dozen times as she gently scratched around the base of his ears. 'She's getting a little too good at that,' he thought absently. He leaned back, closer to her hands and forced his waning attention back onto the journal.

So far there hadn't been much about him, other than her initial impression of him doing things with out thinking, or not telling her things, hadn't been very flattering. He made a face. He'd be the first to admit that the two of them hadn't had the greatest of beginnings. Still, to see her so eloquently state his 'faults' was a humbling experience, and since he'd read those first few entries, he'd tried to be a little less . . . well, any of them. '_Baka_ had been used more than once, as had '_jerk'_, '_stubborn'_, '_unbearable'_, '_arrogant'_, '_condescending'_ . . . had he mentioned '_baka'_? That had actually been the title of one of her entries: _Ed the baka_—complete with about twenty exclamation points after the sentence.

He sighed. This entry wasn't quite so bad. It was actually a little more interesting. '_The first time I went to central._'

She talked of his battles with Barry the Butcher. He couldn't help but feel a little proud of himself and the way she described him. In this entry, she called him '_brave'_ and '_heroic'_. He didn't realize that she thought he was any of those things. She never said that to him before . . ..

'_I was so frightened, when Ed got stabbed by Barry the Butcher. I thought I would lose him, not that he is mine. But after Al left him to go explain what happened to Hughes, I cradled his head in my lap, he said some things. He said that he liked how I smelled, even though he had always said he didn't. That's got to be something, right . . . ._'

Ed stared at that passage for a few moments, tracing the words with his index finger.

'_His voice was so awestruck when he asked why I'd cried for him. I knew his life hadn't been easy, but that . . . well, I suppose that drove it home for me. Poor guy . . . _.'

Ed closed the book and swallowed hard. He'd never known . . . . She cared that much back then? He'd never given her any reason to. Her previous entries had proven that. '_Ed the baka!'_ Why?

Winry stopped rubbing and leaned forward to peek over Ed's shoulder. "You're done?" she asked, surprised that he had already closed the diary.

"Yeah."

She stood up and walked out of the room with a smile.

With a sigh, Ed got up and headed out of the room to see what Winry was doing. He glanced back at the diary with a frown. Maybe he would read more of it later.

Winry was in the kitchen puttering around while Pinako was reading the newspaper. "Hungry?" Winry asked as Ed sank down at the table.

He blinked at her. She flushed. He ducked his head to hide his smile. '_Blinking works_,' he mused. '_I'll have to remember that . . . ._'

o0o0()0o0o

Al laid down in his bed thinking about what tomorrow would bring him hoping it would be something good. Or someone good. He couldn't seem to get Siren out of his head and he prayed that Ed was wrong about her, because he couldn't stand people like that and he wanted to be able to stand her. He turned to his side to look out the window. Seeing the stars swarm in a group made him smile. Now he couldn't wait until tomorrow to see her.

_**A/N:**_

Okay this is my first fan fic of Full metal and my first high school fic of full metal. So tell me what you think of it please. I am begging you. To please help me by sending reviews. That purple button that say submit review at the bottom of the screen is my only means of survival.

_**Reviews:**_

_**Bob's Castle: (CC)**_

_Final Wish and Warslayer_

FFNet 

_**Final Thought From Ed:**_

_Blinking Huh._

_Blanket Disclaimer for this fanfic (Will apply to this and all other chapters in **A thin Silver Strand**): I do not claim any rights to The Full Metal Alchemist or the characters associated with the anime, video game, manga. etc. Those rights belong to whoever created it, I don't know who that is right now but I will find out. I do offer my gratitude to whomever for creating characters that I can torment and make cry like babies._

War Slayer Dev 


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4**_

_**Looking Back**_

'_I had a dream with Ed staring at me. Maybe I'll rephrase that. He_ was examining _me like I was an alien, or like I'd grown a couple of limbs out of my skull. If that wasn't weird enough, he was way too close to me, too, and that was disturbing in a weird sort of way . . . . Strange how his eyes always seem to change, even when I'm looking at him. There's a million colors mixed into the gold. I'm not sure which I like better: his hair or his eyes. I think it may be his hair . . ._ .'

Ed snorted as he remembered the dream she was talking about in her diary. She had written to him about it. He was in the middle of reading her letter when Al wanted to study for the State Alchemist exams

Ed shook his head slowly, and he wondered once more if he hadn't made a colossal mistake in wanting to read Winry's diary. He didn't really have a right to know these things, did he? Winry had written it all, believing that no one else would ever see the things she remembered. He tilted his head back to look at her. The contentment in her expression shocked him. "Winry?"

"Hmm?"

"If you don't want me to read your journal, I won't." He stifled a sigh as her fingers stopped moving. '_I like that a little_ too _much_,' he thought wryly.

"I don't mind if you read it," she replied with a shrug. "I trust you."

He scowled and flopped over onto his back to stare into her eyes. "Why?"

The gentle smile that surfaced made her eyes glow. She pressed her lips together and shrugged. "Because you've never given me a reason not to. You've always told me stuff even if not in words and protected me without asking for anything in return, and . . ." she exhaled slowly and lifted her chin to stare at the wall though her smile remained. "I feel safe with you."

'_She feels safe? With me?_' He smiled slightly, just a slight upturn at the corners of his lips. "You're sure?"

"Yep," she answered, wiggling her hand under his shoulder and trying to pull him back onto his side. "Now move it."

He rolled his eyes but complied.

'_I'm not sure which freaked me out worse the way he looked at me or the way it made me feel. Man do I miss him . . ._'

Ed closed the book and pushed it aside.

"Finish that entry?" Winry asked.

"Yeah," he said, clearing his suddenly scratchy voice. "Yeah, I read enough."

'I _never even thought about what it was doing to Winry,_' he thought with a sigh full of self-disgust. '_Or about what_ I _was doing to her ._ . . . _Baka!_'

"Winry?"

"Hmm?"

"Did it hurt? When I left so many times? I'm not saying it should of or anything."

Her sigh was soft, and her fingers stilled for a moment before resuming their task. "No . . . not really. It just felt a little weird, like every second of my life was pulled away with you."

He flinched. She didn't see it. "Why did you keep writing to me?"

She shrugged as though she thought the answer was a simple thing. "I thought you needed me."

'_I did . . . I still do . . . ._ "Aren't you sick of me yet?"

"Nope." She gasped, fingers stopping abruptly. He could feel her push aside his hair and gently run her fingertips along the base of his ears. She uttered a strangled sort of almost-moan, and she said, "Ed? How . . . You have scars on your ears?"

Quickly he sat up, pulling away from Winry's touch, and he couldn't meet her concerned gaze. "Do I?" he hedged.

"What happened?" she asked quietly, her voice full of sadness, confusion. "How did you get them?"

"It was nothing," he replied quickly, angrily, hating the compassion she showed him, despising the weakness that the scars showed. Mostly, though, he loathed the painful memories that they represented. 'Scar standing a couple of feet away with Al by his side. Ed called for Al but he didn't respond and in response Scar shot at Ed almost ripping Ed's right ear off-.'

"Ed . . . ?"

She reached out to touch him. He jerked away as the tide of recollections overcame him. He stalked to the window, threw it open, and leaped out into the night.

Winry ran to the window and watched him as he wandered across the courtyard and sat on the fence and gazed at the stars.

She hadn't noticed the scars before. It wasn't surprising since they were flush against the base of his ears almost even with his skull. Buried under his thick hair, they were little more than thin, hairless lines.

o0o0()0o0o

_Sobbing, wailing, he couldn't help the noises that escaped despite his resolve not to let them see him cry. He tried to run, tried to hide_

Ed squeezed his eyes closed, willed away the bitter image of the memories that still had the skill to draw blood. They wouldn't let go.

"_I want mother," he whimpered in the darkened night. Alone and scared and yet somehow knowing that Mother wasn't coming to save him. They said she was dead . . . . What did that mean?_

The sliver of moon was high in the sky. He felt the chill winds hit him, blowing his hair, whipping his shirt. He didn't feel the cold. Staring at the weak moon in the sky reminded him of the long, bitter nights after he'd escaped _them_. All he could recall was that he had to run away by the light of the moon, on a very cold night.

_His bare feet sank as he wandered across the damp field, the tears on his face would have drenched his shirt if he hadn't kept wiping them away . He'd sought huddled against the rocks to keep warm. He hadn't known then that the rocks made him colder_.

'_Wake up, Ed. Do you wish to freeze?_"

_He heard the voice but couldn't answer. As if it were a dream, he opened his eyes but couldn't see past the haze that engulfed his vision_.

"_Get up and move. If you lay down in this cold, you will not rise again_."

He'd forced himself to do as the voice had instructed. He ran all night. In the morning, he woke up in his bed with Al still asleep.

Ed scowled as the memory faded away. He hadn't thought of that night in years. He hadn't known who had spoken to him at the time. When he was finally able to see clearly, the man was gone but Ed remembered his voice, hoping to find him. He'd sounded so familiar that, even as a child, Ed had instinctively known that the being was family.

'Envy,' Ed thought as his scowl deepened. '_Why did you save me back then?'_

"Ed? Do you want to come back inside?" He didn't make any gesture to show that he'd heard Winry. She stood beside him, staring up at him. "I'll leave my window open for you, okay? If you get cold . . . ."

He heard her sigh, heard her turn to go back inside. Suddenly he hopped off the fence, grabbed her arm and turned her back to face him. He let her go and scooted back, staring at the ground between them. She remained silent, waiting for him to speak. He drew a deep breath, unable to decide where he could possibly start.

"You remember that day Al left us at the hospital?" he finally said, his voice no more than a whisper in the night. She made a sound somewhere between a sob and then nodded. Still he didn't look at her. "After my brother left I went after him."

Drawing a steadying breath, he blinked slowly before speaking again. "Al met up with a man named Scar and they made a deal to find everything they could about Al. Well I caught up with them. Scar was in a battle with a Homunculi named Gluttony. Scar shot at me when I tried to get near Al. The blast almost ripped of my ear. Before the battle was over and we all fled Scar used a philosopher Stone that was in his arm to bring Al back to his real body. Something I couldn't do.

"It hurt to know that I couldn't save my brother from something I caused. I was scared. I remember wondering why I couldn't do that . . . I remember that it hurt . . . I didn't tell Al in fear of him thinking me selfish. I hurts knowing that I caused him to be in that tin can but I couldn't fix it. I couldn't do anything. Just like when I couldn't bring mother back"

"Ed . . . ."

He shook his head stubbornly, needing to tell her, as though he had to make her understand. The pain was a bitter thing. He tightened his fist into a ball and swallowed a few times to get rid of the rising lump in his throat, the one that threatened to choke him if he didn't keep talking. "I kept it inside from Al afraid of his look of disgust. I didn't understand for the longest time, why I couldn't save him from his pain of loneliness. It wasn't until later that I figured out what it meant, to feel dead in the inside."

Winry shook her head. "You don't have to tell me this. I know it hurts you."

"I think that was worse than any other injury or pain I've had since. I didn't think I could forgive myself. The feeling just kept bleeding . . . ." He drew a deep breath. "Anyway, that's where the scars came from."

She shook her head slowly, as though she didn't understand why. "Why didn't you tell me? All this time I've tried to get you to talk and I yelled at you . . . I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"You don't," he muttered.

"I'm so selfish . . . Ed . . .."

He didn't look up but he could hear the sobs coming from her. "Winry? Don't . . .."

She sniffled and heaved a shaky sigh. "Why would you feel that way? I don't understand how _you_ could feel that way, and Al would understand-" She cut herself off viciously as a sob escaped. Clumsily, Ed reached out, wiped her cheeks.

"Don't cry, not for me."

And then his arms were full of Winry. She threw herself against him, burying her face in his haori as she sobbed harder. Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around her. '_Why is it that her tears are enough? Why do they . . . heal me?_'

"I have to cry for you because you never cry for yourself." He held her until her crying stopped, until she wound down to hiccups and stuttered breaths. Finally she pulled back and turned away only to hold out a small wrapped package. With a watery smile-all the more endearing for the cautious hope in her face as she offered him the gift-she shrugged and laughed self-consciously.

"What's this?" he asked, almost afraid to take the package.

She pushed it closer to him and sighed. "It's not much. You'll probably think it's stupid."

He took it and slowly tore off the paper. He blinked in surprise as he stared at the book in his hands. "A book?"

"It's a journal. I just thought maybe . . . if you wanted to . . . you could put your painful memories in that. Then you'd never have to think about them again."

He frowned as he stared at the volume in his hands. '_Maybe someday_,' he thought. '_Just not . . . yet_.'

She shook her head and forced a smile. "Told you it was stupid. Here . . .."

He caught the hand she held out for the book. "Thank you . . . no one's ever really given me anything before."

Winry stared at him for a long moment. With a small smile, she leaned over and brushed her lips over his cheek.

Ed's eyes widened in shock as he felt heat rush to the surface of his skin. Thanking whatever was listening, he could only be grateful that it was dark. He cleared his throat and gathered her close. "Let's get you back inside before you freeze."

She giggled softly.

_**A/N:**_

Okay this is my first fan fic of Full metal and my first high school fic of full metal. So tell me what you think of it please. I am begging you. To please help me by sending reviews. That purple button that say submit review at the bottom of the screen is my only means of survival.

_**Reviews:**_

_**Bob's Castle: (CC)**_

_Final Wish and Warslayer_

FFNet 

_**Final Thought From Ed:**_

_A Journal?_

_Blanket Disclaimer for this fanfic (Will apply to this and all other chapters in **A thin Silver Strand**): I do not claim any rights to The Full Metal Alchemist or the characters associated with the anime, video game, mange. etc. Those rights belong to whoever created it, I don't know who that is right now but I will find out. I do offer my gratitude to whomever for creating characters that I can torment and make cry like babies._

War Slayer Dev 


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter Five_

_**Hope Floats**_

Al sat in his room staring at the ceiling admiring his hand. 'She did say if I had nothing to do to call her didn't she?'

'_Yes she did.'_

'So it wouldn't hurt to call her.' Al stood and walked out into the hall and picked up the phone and dialed the number not even looking at his hand.

"Hello."

"Is… uh… is Siren there?"

"This is her."

"Hey this is Al."

"Oh hey Al."

"I was just wondering if…." Al began to twirl the phone cord in his hand as his nervousness began to get the better of him.

"Yes."

"I was wondering if you wanted to go and grab something to eat?" he waited while silence was heard on the other side of the line. Then he heard 'cool, thanks Cally.' In the background.

"Sure

"Okay, I'll pick you up around eight."

"Alright."

"Well I'll see you then."

"Okay bye."

"Bye." Al hung up and began to dance before running down stairs. "Mrs. Pinako." Al said running into the living room where the woman was cleaning.

"Yes Al."

"I was wondering if I could borrow your car?"

"Why not Winry's."

"Well she's busy studying and I didn't want to bother her."

Pinako sat down on the couch looking Al over. "Well . . . ." She stood up again and headed towards the rack. "Okay."

"Really! Thanks!" Al said snatching the keys.

"Just be careful."

"Okay I will."

"Or just don't doing anything your brother would."

"Okay."

o0o0()0o0o

Winry breezed into the bedroom from the hallway and stopped short, seeing Ed sitting in the window staring outside. She leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest as she watched with a smile as Ed slowly turned his head to look at her.

"Two more exams to study for," she remarked as she shoved herself away from the door and headed for her desk.

Ed nodded "But, it's Saturday." and kept his attention to the diary at hand.

"Why don't you read that down stairs so I can study?"

"Fine."

Ed got up and walked down stairs and flopped on the couch.

'_Baka, baka, baka, baka, baka! Sometimes he drives me so crazy I could just scream! Take today, for example! He had to get into another fight and ruin his arm, which, okay, so he can't just run away from them. But can't he be a little more careful with his arm. I'm not sure if that was what caused it, but when he got back to our house Ed had his arm behind his back and a strange man was caring Alphonse in a box. I should have known he was up to something_.'

Ed made a face as he read Winry's journal. He had almost forgotten about that. It struck him again, how worried he'd been at the time. He'd almost escaped Winry's wrath until Armstrong ruined it by telling her she needed to check his arm. Winry from the looks of it was literally going to kill him that time . . . . It had been too close, and he knew it. The idea of something happening was enough to worry her even if it was his arm she was worried about.

'_Then_ _it_ _was_ _before_ _he_ _left_ _and_ _he_ _hugged me. Just like that. No real reason. Just a hug. A really warm hug. It was the first real hug I've ever gotten from a boy, err, guy, err, non-family male. I didn't know what to do or what to say. It isn't like him to touch anyone without a good reason, and for a moment I thought he was going to hold me for awhile, I really thought he wanted to hug me. I thought, maybe . . . Ah, Winry, who are you kidding? Ed. . . . forget it. Then he pushed me back and said good bye. Just like that . . ._ .'

'_Nice_,' Ed thought with a grimace. '_I really am an ass . . . wait . . . did she_ want _me to hug her?_' As he reread the passage, his head dropped. Yes, maybe she did. '_A_ huge _ass_,' he amended.

'_The week after he left was the first day of school. I checked the mail box before I went to school. I was hoping I'd find a letter. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything, so I went on to school. It was one of those days, I swear I should have crawled under my bed and died. As if it wasn't bad enough that I met Rose and all she did was keep bugging me for details about Ed the jerk, Russell(Chris) asked me out on a date, too. I mean, Russell is nice enough, and a perfect gentleman, unlike a certain guy I know, but he's just not 'the one'. How am I supposed to concentrate on the movie when my mind is with a certain guy and his little brother?_'

Ed almost growled and reigned in the overwhelming need to shred the journal to confetti. He stuck it inside his jacket instead. "She had a _date_?" he seethed, falling off the couch. The idea of tearing Russell limb from limb was sounding good about now. '_I could take him . . ._ .'

His eye narrowed as he glowered at the stairs leading to Winry. He might not know exactly what to do on a date, but he had a feeling that it wasn't something he wanted Winry running around doing, especially if it included Russell.

"Ed? Did Winry kick you out of her room?"

Ed's scowl darkened as Al stepped into the house and stopped next to him. "No."

Al looked confused. "Then what are you doing out here? Are you sure she didn't—"

"Yes, I'm sure! I was just thinking."

Al deliberately took his time before casually offering, "Maybe I could help you."

"No, that's okay Al."

Al laughed and headed toward the stairs that led to his room. "See you, Ed!"

He watched his brother go with his scowl still in place. Finally he stood up and stomped toward the door.

"Ed? Is that you?"

Ed followed the sound of Pinako's voice. She was in the kitchen, teetering on a chair as she pulled things out of a cabinet. She was in trouble, from the looks of it, and was about to drop a stack of bowls. Ed grabbed the woman and the bowls before they both crashed to the floor.

"Thank you!" Pinako said with a bright smile as Ed set her on her feet. "I was just cleaning the cupboards . . . getting started on fall cleaning." She leaned her head to the side as she stared at Ed. "Is something wrong?"

Ed stared at her mulishly for a moment before dragging Winry's diary out of his jacket and dropping it on the table. Pinako looked rather shocked and yet somehow amused. "I _hate_ that book," he grumbled, jabbing a clawed finger at the cover of the journal.

Pinako nodded slowly. "I will assume that Winry knows you have her diary, and why don't you tell me why it is you hate it?"

"I wouldn't just _take_ her diary, no," Ed growled, offended that Pinako would even allude to that. She started to reassure him but stopped when Ed's ears suddenly drooped. "What do you do on a 'date'?"

"You want to know what to do on a date?"

He jerked his head once.

"People do things to see if they like to do the same things and see if they want to pursue a relationship."

"A _what_?" Ed bellowed, shooting to his feet and sending his chair flying back. '_I'll track that bastard down and introduce him to . . ._ .'

Pinako stood and grabbed Ed's arm, soothing him gently back into his chair again. "If you're thinking of Winry's dates with Russell nothing ever came of them. Winry really wasn't interested in the young man."

"_Dates?"_ he choked out. "More than _one_?" He glared at his hands. '_Fucking dead . . ._ .'

"Were you interested in taking my granddaughter on a date?"

"Fuck-."

"Ed!"

"Sorry," he grumbled at the censure in Pinako's non-gentle voice and flushed.

"You're forgiven. Were you?"

"Hadn't thought about it," he mumbled. A date. It sounded like a disaster waiting to happen but Winry's journal entry taunted him. '_Russell's just not 'the one'. How am I supposed to concentrate on the movie when my mind is with a certain guy and his little brother?'_

'_A certain guy and his brother? With . . . me?_'

Slowly, he lifted his gaze to lock with Pinako's. If it had been Al, he never would have asked. Something about Pinako had always reminded him of his mother, and because of that, he didn't feel quite as stupid about asking the question that came next despite the rising embarrassment and the subsequent feeling of inadequacy. "Would you . . . um, could you . . . help me?"

o0o0()0o0o

'_Done_.'

Winry let her head fall back as she heaved a sigh of relief that her studying was over, at least for now. She might not have to take tests as often anymore, but the ones she did have to take were enough to drain her, both mentally as well as physically. It had taken nearly three hours for the English test, and the history test she'd just studied for had taken another two and a half hours. She felt a bit light-headed from concentrating so hard, but all in all, she thought she had done well.

'_Ed's been extra quiet_,' she mused. '_Wonder what he's doing?_' She made a face, asking herself if really should have given Ed her diary in an effort to preoccupy him. '_Desperate times call for desperate measures_,' she reasoned. There was no way she would have been able to concentrate on her studying at all if she hadn't given him the diary.

"How was your studying, dear?"

Winry turned away from the window and let out a deep breath as her Granny crossed the room to offer her a cup of tea, pausing next to the desk to set down Winry's diary. "Thanks, Granny. I think I did well. This smells great!" She smelled the tea appreciatively, eyes closing in dreamy enjoyment before she lifted the cup to her lips. "Granny, where's Ed?"

"Hmm, I think he's a bit preoccupied at the moment. Why don't you change into that pretty new dress I bought you? I'd like to see you wear it at least once."

Winry grimaced. "Seems like a waste to wear it around the house," she remarked as she set the tea aside.

" I thought it'd be nice to go out to dinner for once."

She shot her mother a suspicious look. "How did you convince Ed or Al to go out to dinner?"

Pinako paused on her way out of the room, hand on the door that she had started to pull closed behind her. "I _asked_ _him_."

Winry smiled as her Granny closed the door. It wasn't the first time that she'd noticed that Ed seemed to listen to Pinako more often than not.

With a soft giggle, she shuffled through her closet to find the new dress. It wasn't fancy but it was nicer than most of the skirts that she normally wore. The faun colored material looked like suede but wasn't nearly as unforgiving. Tight, and the flared skirt added a flirty feel to it, saving the dress from being too formal in design.

The only part of the dress she didn't like was the neckline. It wasn't low cut but it was lower cut than she normally wore. She made a face and tried to tug the edges together. When that didn't work, she tugged at the back of the dress. She sighed and dragged on a pair of matching dress boots. '_Who are you kidding, Winry? Does it matter what you wear? Ed won't notice, anyway. He_ never _does_.'

Winry squared her shoulders and stared at her reflection in the full length mirror on the back of her door with a discerning eye. She had to admit, it wasn't bad.

Suddenly, she rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at the girl staring back at her. With a giggle, she grabbed her brush and pulled up her hair into a high ponytail then pulled her long tweed coat out of the back of the closet. Draping it over her arm, she opened her door and headed downstairs.

Winry followed voices into the living room. Pinako smiled. "You look lovely, darling."

Winry frowned at her Grandma. She hadn't changed clothes at all and was still wearing the same old dress that she always wore when she cleaned the house.

"Why haven't you changed?" Winry asked.

"Oh, I'm not going," Pinako said with a laugh.

"Granny?"

"Turn around, Winry."

She did. The smile she had worn all the way downstairs faded as she gasped, eyes widening in disbelief. Her fingers rose to flutter at her lips, and she shook her head slightly.

Ed stood before her- at least, she thought it was Ed. Dressed in slightly baggy black dress pants, and scarlet button down shirt with a black jacket over that, she barely recognized him and wouldn't have if he didn't have his signature scowl in place and his pocket watch still hanging out of his pocket. It wasn't the clothes that fazed her.

It was the marked lack of hair that did.

His bangs were the same as always: long and unruly and hanging in his face, but the back of his hair-the length of it was gone. She blinked in shock, unsure what she should or even could say. Her fingers pulled away from her mouth as she settled for pointing at him instead.

"I knew this was a stupid idea," he mumbled and turned to storm back up the stairs.

Winry saw the ponytail that was stuffed in his jacket and let out a rushed sigh of relief as she ran forward and caught his arm. "No, Ed, wait! I'm sorry . . . I thought you cut your hair, that's all."

He stopped and slowly turned to face her again, his scowl still in place. He didn't smile as he stared at her. He didn't have to. The warmth that lay beneath the wariness in his expression was enough to set off a slight trembling in her belly as her knees threatened to buckle. "You…."

She smiled and ducked her head Pinako handed Winry's coat to Ed. He held it for her while she concentrated on sticking her arms in the sleeves without incident. He was hesitant and gentle as he let go to pull her hair out from under the coat. She thought his hands were shaking just a little but discounted that idea when she turned around and saw his scowl. He didn't have any reason to be nervous, did he? She had to be imagining things . . . .

"Enjoy yourselves," Pinako called as she followed them to the front door.

"Don't stay out too late," Al remarked with a wink.

Ed took her hand and pulled Winry out of the house with a sigh as he strode along the sidewalk away from the front door. He stopped at the top of the house steps and let go of her hand to jam his hands into his pockets, his gaze dropping to the ground as he shuffled his feet, kicking the toes of the loafers against the concrete. She grinned at his dress shoes. Knowing him, he hated them worst of all. '_He's nervous_,' she realized suddenly. "Ed?"

"I feel stupid, but Pinako said that I have to . . . ."

Winry bit her lip as blood rushed to her face. "You don't . . . we don't . . . if you want to go back . . . ." She forced herself not to fidget and tried to ignore the sharp twinge of dismay that viciously twisted her stomach. '_He doesn't want to do this at all . . . ._'

He sighed again and shifted his eyes to the side, as though he was afraid to look at her. "Winry, will you go on a date with me?" After he said it, he made a face, obviously thinking that he sounded completely stupid. He snorted. "You don't have to say yes."

Sudden understanding dawned on her. It wasn't that he didn't want to go; he simply didn't know how to ask her . . . . She smiled. "I'd love to."

He looked amazed. "You would?"

Her smile widened. "It depends. Where are you taking me?"

Ed grimaced. "Give me a break," he grumbled as he took her hand again, dragging her down the stairs. "I've never done this before."

She giggled as she glanced over her shoulder at the shrine to wave back at her family, who were all gathered in the doorway. Al grinned as he gave her two thumbs up. Pinako wiped a tear off her cheek before she waved back. The dog darted past their feet and sat down at the top of the shrine steps where Ed had asked her to go on the date. The dog barked his goodbye as Winry looked up at Ed only to find him staring back at her in that entirely unsettling way of his. "I'm glad you decided to stay tonight," she said softly.

For once, he didn't snort, and he didn't make any of his normal commentary. "Yeah," he agreed instead. "Me, too."

o0o0()0o0o

Ed remembered Pinako's instructions to hold the door open for Winry when they reached the small restaurant near the shrine. Though not very big, it had what Pinako called 'ambience', whatever that meant. If 'ambience' meant 'dark' then the place fit the bill. Candles burned in small paper lanterns on the tables, and the place wasn't very crowded. That suited Ed.

"Welcome," a little man said after Ed followed Winry into the restaurant. He glanced at Ed's waist and held his hands out. He seemed to be waiting for something. Finally he looked down at a book standing on a pedestal. "Elric? Party of two."

"Yeah," Ed replied, feeling warmth rush to the surface of his skin. Pinako had made the reservations and had instructed him to give his last name when they arrived. He'd forgotten, which just figured. It seemed as though there was a lot to remember on a date, and Ed was pretty certain he was going to forget more of the instruction than he remembered before the night was over. He made a face and pushed away the feeling the vulnerable feeling caused by the exposed flesh on back of his neck and tried not to frown too much as the small man showed them to their table.

But when the little man tried to help Winry take off her coat then proceeded to pull out chair and lift his hand to help her sit, Ed glared at the waiter. The waiter smiled nervously and stepped aside, allowing Ed to hold Winry's chair as she sat. He draped her coat over the back of an unused chair before he sat down across from her.

He was almost scared to look at her after he was seated. Afraid that she would be angry with him for glaring at the waiter, Ed stared at the menu the man had handed him before his hasty retreat, instead.

He sighed. He didn't recognize anything on the menu, and he dared a subversive glance at Winry. She was gazing down at her menu, as well, though it didn't look like she was actually seeing anything but she did look like she was amused and when her lips quirked up in a small grin, Ed swallowed hard. Whether or not she sensed his discomfort was arbitrary. She really was enjoying herself, and that helped to assuage his acute discomfort.

"Do you know what you want?" Winry asked, finally breaking the stilted silence.

"Steak.".

"Me too." He blinked.

"Okay," he agreed, closing his menu and setting it aside.

Suddenly she giggled. He arched an eyebrow at her in silent question. "I really was worried that you'd cut your hair. I'm glad you didn't."

"Is that all you care about?"

They were walking home and she began to giggled then gasped as she tripped. He caught her around the waist and steadied her. "Clumsy," he muttered.

He stared at her in that familiar but unsettling way, the same way he had the night by the fire. She didn't look away, and she didn't run.

"Winry?"

She couldn't find her voice as her eyes locked with his. She opened her mouth to answer but no sound would come. Human for the night, maybe, but that really didn't make him any less dangerous. He was still Ed. She didn't think her heart could beat any faster but it did. The look on his face as his gaze dropped to her lips was enough to send her pulse skyrocketing as her heart hammered against her ribcage, as her hands trembled and her knees threatened to give way under her.

He sighed and looked away. Disappointment welled up in her, and she seriously considered saying 'it' to vent her frustration.

"I'm glad we came here."

Her irritation melted away as she glanced at him. He looked almost happy, and that was enough.

They skated around the rink a few more times in companionable silence. Winry caught him gazing at her more than once though each time he'd blush a little and quickly look away.

Winry stole a glance at him only to find him staring down at her. "So," he mumbled with a sigh, "this is a date, huh?"

"Nope."

His smile faded though his eyes still held a hint of amusement. "No?"

She lowered her chin, staring at their feet as the glided over the ice. "This is the best date _ever_."

o0o0()0o0o

Al held the chair for Siren as she sat down at the small table of the traditional restaurant. She smiled at him as he stepped over to his chair nervously and waited until he was seated before she spoke. "I'm surprised you called me," she admitted. "careful of I'll start wondering whether you like me or not.

''Gee thanks for you lack of faith." He informed as he reached for a menu.

She giggled. "You have a strange way of showing feelings."

"I suppose." He agreed. "So tell me about your family since you've met all of mine."

"Well there's my father who wants to die, I stay with my Aunt Cally, my mother died, and that is it." she said starring at the menu infront of her.

"You live with your Aunt?"

"My dad only comes by every once in a while. I just wish he would stay with us for a little longer, or I knew where that bastard was."

"Tell me why you want to find you father if he's a bastard as you say."

Siren shrugged and nodded as the waiter set down a glass of water. "Because I'd like him to stick around for once."

Al absorbed that for a moment. "When did your mother die?"

Siren sighed and fixed her gaze on the sweat condensing on the outside glass. "She died when I was born. Daddy doesn't like to talk about it. I suppose that's natural right?"

That did surprise Alphonse. After so many years, did the man wish to die? It seemed a little melodramatic. He survived the shock of loosing his wife. That, in itself, was amazing. "He doesn't have to die, does he? I mean he's already beaten the odds, staying alive this long."

"He says he made a promise, that he has to keep his word. Daddy's really big on vows. I think they're more important to him than anything.

"Are you sure that's not misinterpreting what he's told you?"

Siren smiled sadly, running her fingertip around the rim of the glass. "Nope."

'Wow this isn't a very good date Al.'

'Yeah I know.'

'But she does look good.'

'Yep.'

'Okay… and in case you didn't notice, that dress gives a great view of her rack…'

'Shut up… hentai.'

'Just look!'

'All right,' against his better judgment he looked. The low cut cocktail dress she wore did provide a very nice glimpse of her breasts, and Alphonse indulged himself for a few moments in watching the rise and fall of her breathing.

'You're looking… and you like what you see, you perv. I'm proud of you, Al. I was starting to wonder…'

'Shut up seriously. Just because I looked doesn't mean anything.'

'So?'

'So, what?'

'So… what do you think?'

Alphonse stifled a sigh as he directed his attention back to his menu again. 'So…. They're nice.'

"How's it look?"

Al looked up from his menu to see Siren smiling at him. "Fine."

"Good."

"Good I was scared you didn't like them for a minute."

"Like what?"

Siren sipped her water as a mysterious little smile surfaced in her eyes. She shrugged. "You don't think I didn't notice you staring at my rack, did you?"

Now he did it and he had to do something. 'Do it so she doesn't get offended.' "Can't help but see something so obviously that's on display," he shot back. 'Nice idiot.'

'That's true," she agreed with a giggle. "Anyways people say it's best."

"What's that."

"Beauty should be shared, and my rack is definitely beautiful."

"What-."

"Do you want to see them?"

"In the restraint?" he questioned.

"Here, there, wherever, what do you say Alphonse Elric?"

"Not here, but maybe later." Al said with his cheeks pinkening.

"Can I take your order." Al looked at the waiter.

"Two number eights."

"Okay sir I'll be back with your steaks."

Al turned to her with a smile. "I ordered for you is that okay?"

"Yeah, you picked what I wanted anyways."

She smiled. 'You like him, don't you?'

Siren shifted uncomfortably. 'He's nice enough.'

'Nice? Nice doesn't begin to cover it, Clara. He's all those indefinable things, the kind of man you could stand to be with.'

'Your kind of looking a little a head there aren't you.'

'So.'

'I'm not.'

'And I'm not breathing.'

'Sorry to hear that.'

'Yeah.'

Alphonse opened his mouth to say something but the waiter interrupted and slipped the plates onto the table and disappeared again.

"This looks good." She said taking a bite. "Um… but it's really rare." Siren remarked as she stared at the barely cooked meat. "Excuse me." She said as she caught the waiter's sleeve to stop him as he passed.

"Is something wrong ma'am?"

"Yes," Siren said with a bright smile, slipping her hand around to pat the young man's hand. The waiter blushed. "I hate to be a bother, but this meat is to rare."

"I could take it back."

"Oh, please, if it isn't any trouble." Siren cooed in a sweater more suave voice then she usually used. The waiter nodded and took her plate.

She turned to Alphonse to see that he didn't look to happy. "That was nice."

Siren cocked her head to the side and frowned. "What"

"Come on Siren you could have just asked the pour guy to take it back, you didn't have to fawn over him. You manipulated him." Al smiled and shook his head.

"I didn't-."

"Ed was right. Damn."

Siren watched in shocked silence as Al stood up and dug a wad of bills out of his pocket to drop on the table. "Let's go." After casting her one more glare he turned and left.

'That didn't go so well.'

'No it didn't Clara.'

'But he was totally wrong.'

'Was he?'

'I think.'

_**A/N:**_

Okay this is going good so far. I think, I hope. Well I am Devin Warren and I approve this story, kind of, sort of, not really. Just kidding well tell me what you feel by pushing that purple button that says submit review at the bottom of the screen. And It's true it is my only means of survival.

_**Reviews:**_

_**Bob's Castle: (CC)**_

_Final Wish and Warslayer_

FFNet 

_**Final Thought From Al:**_

_Ed's right?_

_Blanket Disclaimer for this fanfic (Will apply to this and all other chapters in **A thin Silver Strand**): I do not claim any rights to The Full Metal Alchemist or the characters associated with the anime, video game, mange. etc. Those rights belong to whoever created it, I don't know who that is right now but I will find out. I do offer my gratitude to whomever for creating characters that I can torment and make cry like babies._


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter Six**_

_**Tournament**_

"Tournament?"

"Yeah, me and Fletcher do one every month."

"Can I bring Siren, Rose, Granny, and maybe Al?" Winry asked Russell. 'For some reason I don't think Ed would like to come.'

"Sure." Russell said with a smile. "Cool."

"Great."

"Well I'll see you tonight then?"

"Sure, Russell."

"See yah."

"By." Winry turned and began to walk down the hall until she saw Al. "Hey Al."

"Hey." Al said not to excited.

"What are you doing tonight." Winry said as she began to walk beside him. She shivered when she saw his expression that reminded her of his armor he used to wear.

"Nothing of course."

Winry flinched again. "Well I was wondering if you wanted to go to a tournament with me at the Tringums' house."

"Yeah, why not." He said stuffing his hands in his pockets which reminded her of Ed. "I'll meet you there. What time?"

"Five, they have to set up."

"Okay I'll see you there."

"Alright." She stopped and watched him wave behind him in an attempt to say good bye without having to turn around to do so.

She turned in search of her next victim. "Rose."

"I heard I'll meet you there. Okay." Rose said trying to hurry and catch up to Ed who looked like he didn't want to be bothered at that minute.

"Fine, now where is Siren?" she walked over to the cafeteria to see Siren sitting at a table grading papers. "Siren!"

She looked and watched Winry walk to her and sit. "Hey Winry." She said then turned back to grading her papers."

"Siren what are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing of course." She said still not looking up.

Winry cocked an eyebrow at the familiarity of Siren's and Al's answer to when she asked the two that question. "Well me, Al, and Rose were going to the Tringums' house to watch a tournament they are having. They invited the principle, and the four new teachers to join in the fun. And I was wondering-?"

Siren looked up shaking her head slowly as she stared at Winry's anxious expression. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea." She ventured at last, carefully chosen words.

"Why?"

"Al was being a jerk, that's all. I don't think he'll be to happy to see me-."

"Wait, Al? Are you sure it wasn't Ed?"

"No, it was Al."

"Well don't worry about it, Al's a nice guy so he'll behave himself."

"Now what is this thing now?" Siren asked to get off the subject of Al.

"He said they're a lot of fun, even just watching" she said. "Even though I've never been to one." She confessed.

Siren nodded turning back to her papers. "Come on, Siren." Siren looked back up at Winry. "Please."

"I doubt Al-."

"Forget about Al, come to have fun with me and Rose."

Siren had to laugh at the sheer determination on Winry's face, and she did. "Your funny Winry."

"Does that mean you'll come?"

Siren bit her lip and sighed. "Yeah, I'll go with you."

Winry squealed happily and lunged at Siren, catching her off guard. Siren giggled as Winry stood up and grabbed her hand, dragging towards the door only stopping so Siren could grab her book bag.

"So is Ed coming?" Siren said.

"He doesn't like Chris that well."

"That bad huh."

"Worse."

o0o0()0o0o

"Something bothering you?" Pinako said quietly in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest.

Alphonse glanced at the beverage in front of him and shrugged. "Not really."

"Oh I get it . . . . so what's her name?"

"Who says it's a woman?"

Pinako laughed gently, laying her hand on Alphonse's arm as they sat at the kitchen table. "Give me a little credit, will you? Now tell me her name."

"Pinako . . . ."

"Is she pretty?"

His answer was another sigh, and Pinako clucked her tongue as she slowly shook her head. "That pretty, Huh?"

"I don't know?"

"Sounds like this girl's gotten under your skin."

"No."

"Alphonse?"

"What?"

"Fine."

Alphonse blew his bangs out of his eyes and shook his head. "You ever misjudge someone then figure out that you can't stop thinking about them, and that you might have made a mistake?"

"Just apologize."

"Sounds too easy."

"It doesn't have to be difficult. How old is this girl?"

"Eighteen."

"Ooh, going for the older women are we Al."

"Pinako . . . ."

"What happened to you? You didn't used to be so jaded. You were the little boy who brought his mother flowers and helped her arrange them in a vase. You used to believe in people. Has everything change so much?"

"Maybe I've just changed."

"Or maybe you still believe in people, or is it just this girl?"

o0o0()0o0o

"Chris, I brought Siren with me." Winry said as the entered the Tringum house.

"Cool, that means we heave a total of, let's see, there's; Hughes the new PE teacher, Hawkeye the new college alchemist teacher" he cocked an eyebrow. "Even though she doesn't use Alchemy, then there is Havoc the new art teacher that should be fun to watch fight since he's gone through about twelve packs of cigarettes, Armstrong the new English teacher, me and Paul, Siren, and Mr. Mustang the new principle." He counted off his fingers each person. "Nine, nine people all together."

"Sounds good," said Siren.

"Granny!"

"Winry." Pinako responded as she strolled in. "I can't stay long I have to help Ed out with something."

"Oh okay I just wanted you to meet Siren."

"Hello."

"Hello." Siren said.

Alphonse's laughter was heard from the room and all of the group that was standing turned to see that the tournament had begun. "Come on Mr. Havoc I think that smoking is slowing you down."

"Shut up Al." Pinako watched Siren starring at Al.

"How old are you Siren?"

"Eighteen."

"Oh." Pinako smiled at Al then turned to Winry. "Well I better get going before Ed has a fit."

"Well okay bye Granny."

"Bye Winry."

Siren looked to see that all of the men had their shirts off.

"Why do they have their shirts off?" Siren asked Chris.

"So we know that they aren't cheating. See they get one article of anything they get to use. I got a glove that has a transmutation circle on it along with, Mr. Mustang, Havoc, Armstrong, and Paul. While Al has his gauntlets, and Hughes and Hawkeye have whatever they use."

"Oh."

"Did you bring something?"

"Yeah my cards." She said showing him her deck that had a transmutation circle.

"Cool."

An explosion was heard and they turned just in time to see Havoc flying out of the arena. "Nice going Al." Hughes yelled.

"Winry you ready to watch a real alchemist in action." Chris asked.

"Doesn't she do that all the time at home?" Rose's voice said coming from behind.

"Shut up Rose." Winry said from under her breath.

"I mean a real alchemist, not a phony." Chris stepped into the ring and watched Armstrong get on. He smiled at the big guy.

"Time to meet you maker!" Armstrong yelled flexing his muscles to show off.

"Yeah cool it Mr. Clean." Chris slid on his glove and watched Armstrong do the same. Chris did a back flip then stood in his fighting stance.

"He's such a show off." Siren whispered.

"Not as much as Mustang." The three girls turned to see Hawkeye behind them. They all laughed.

"I heard that!" they laughed harder.

Chris flipped back out of the strong-arm attacks. Chris then slammed his hand in the ground and a spear floated to his hand. He twirled it and watched Armstrong charge. Chris sidestepped and stuck his foot out to catch Armstrong's ankle and trip him. Armstrong rolled back to his feet and faced Chris.

Armstrong charged again but this time Chris stuck out the blunt end of the staff catching Armstrong in the stomach and throwing him out of the ring. "I win."

"Good match." Armstrong said getting up receiving a glare from Chris that no one caught.

"Whose next."

o0o0()0o0o

"Come on Al," Siren called as she pulled off her shirt to reveal her sports bra. Al stood admiring for a second before he shook his head and stepped onto the arena floor.

"I wanted to talk to you Siren." Al said slipping on his gauntlets.

"Oh Really." Siren said throwing her cards down as they flashed in a bright light revealing her sword.

"Yeah, I wanted to apologize for the way I acted at dinner." Al said looking down at the ground.

"Hum, let me think about that." She said twirling the sword. "Okay if I win the apology is not accepted, but if you win I'll think about it." She said pointed the tip of the blade at Alphonse's head. "Sound fair enough?"

"Okay."

Siren charged and slashed the blade of her sword at Al's head. Al dodged barely in time rolling out of her way. She turned to him and lunged at him again. She hit this time but only his gauntlet. Al pushed her back and she lunged again. Al blocked again stepping closer to the edge.

"You keep doing this and you'll lose."

"Fat chance." She said attacking again and pushing him back again.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." She lunged again and now Al was at the edge. "I warned you." With that said he moved to the left and with his left hand pushed her out of the ring.

She turned at him with her mouth opened, and fire in her eyes. He shrugged not wanting to push her so that she ended hating him, but he had to do it.

"I told you." She shook her head and smiled.

"Yeah you did." She walked back over to the other girls"

"I'm glad Ed isn't here, he'd kill all of them." Winry whisper Rose.

"Really now."

She turned to see Chris with his arms crossed over his chest. 'Shit.' She stepped back. "I meant as he would freak out that's all."

"Why don't you call him and ask him to come."

"I-."

"Yeah come on Winry." Rose pleaded.

"Full Metal wouldn't come any ways." Mustang's voice was heard.

"Fine I will." Winry said taking offense to Mr. Mustang's comment. She didn't know why but she did.

"Sir I thank you offended her?" Havoc said to Roy in a whisper.

"I know that's the point."

She reached the phone in the house and quickly dialed her own number.

"Hello."

"Ed!''

"Winry?"

"Yeah."

"Where are you?"

"Over at the Tringum's"

"Oh." he sounded disappointed.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come over."

"Why?"

"They're having a tournament of alchemy, and Chris and Roy are here."

"And."

"They're both saying you're not a match."

"Well right now it's bastard against bastard so you're right I wouldn't be a match."

"Come on Ed."

There was silence on Ed's line for a while. "Fine, I'll be there in a minute."

"Great!"

"Calm down Winry." Ed took a deep breath and she heard him get up from his bed.

"You all right Ed?"

"Yeah, fine." She heard his door to his room shut. "All right I'll see you there."

"All right bye."

"Bye."

She heard the click and hung up after words. She walked out back to see Mr. Mustang a Hawkeye in the ring. She held her guns ready with mustang looking a little afraid.

"He coming." Chris asked with a smile after seeing her worried face.

"Yeah, he is." Winry said walking past him and sitting on a bench.

o0o0()0o0o

"Al since your brother is taking forever let's fight." Chris said stepping in the arena. Followed by Al.

"Fine." Al slide on his gauntlets. "Let's go." Chris smiled as he raised his spear. He charged at Al raising it in the air. Al charge at him to. His gauntlet met the sharp end of the speared halberd. Al jumped back and slammed his fist two the ground and a sword appeared. He grabbed it and twisted it in the air, caught it, then charged.

Chris smiled. He caught the side of the Blade and both weapons flew away from their owners. Al couldn't stop but he didn't need to for there was Chris's fist to stop his momentum. Al fell back landing on his back. Chris smiled and jumped on top of him and was ready to punch.

Al closed his eyes waiting for the onslaught. But it never came.

"I think he's done." Al opened his eyes to see Ed's right arm clutching Chris's wrist. "Get off of him." Ed's hold tightened and Chris immediately got off.

Ed let go of Chris and helped Al up to his feet. "Your next, brother."

"Who do I fight? Which bastard, Al?" Ed said as they walked to the side of the arena where Siren, Rose, Hawkeye, and Winry stood watching.

"Russell."

"The Tringum bastard huh."

"Yeah."

"Well let's go then."

"You have to take off your shirt." Winry piped up. Ed looked at her confused with the ends of his lips beginning to turn upwards. "I mean all of them have to."

"Oh." Ed said a little disappointed. He threw off his jacket before throwing of his shirt and began to stretch.

"Nice…" Ed turned to Hawkeye who was ogling him. "Scars!" she said in a hurry as she began to blush.

"Let's go cripple!" Chris said with a smile. Ed stepped in the arena glaring at Russell. "Now I can show all of them how much I phony you are. No transmutation circle's. That's almost impossible. And now that you don't have you jacket's to his them then I can finally win fairly easy." He said calling his spear.

"Really now." Ed said just standing there.

"Yes."

Ed just shook his head as he slammed his hands together and transformed his arm infront of everyone. "No transmutation circles."

Russell charged and Ed stepped out of his way. He turned his halberd and met Ed's arm. Ed pushed him back and followed after him punching him in the right cheek. Russell stepped back and charged again. Ed just shook his head and punched Russell in the stomach.

Fletcher watched with amusement, as his brother got his ass handed to him. Russell stood up and glared at Ed as he was at the edge of the ring. Ed didn't waist any time. He charged and punched Russell in the jaw sending him flat on his back and out of the arena.

He walked over to his jacket and things and put them on. He then turned to leave. "I win."

_**A/N:**_

Okay this is going good so far. I think, I hope. Well I am Devin Warren and I approve this story, kind of, sort of, not really. Just kidding well tell me what you feel by pushing that purple button that says submit review at the bottom of the screen. And It's true it is my only means of survival.

_**Reviews:**_

_**Bob's Castle: (CC)**_

_Final Wish and Warslayer_

FFNet 

_**Final Thought From Russell:**_

_I hate that bastard._

_Blanket Disclaimer for this fanfic (Will apply to this and all other chapters in **A thin Silver Strand**): I do not claim any rights to The Full Metal Alchemist or the characters associated with the anime, video game, mange. etc. Those rights belong to whoever created it, I don't know who that is right now but I will find out. I do offer my gratitude to whomever for creating characters that I can torment and make cry like babies._


End file.
